The Heart of an Empress
by writer writing
Summary: Xena has everything she has ever wanted as an empress except for happiness. Ares is beginning to discover that maybe he doesn't like Empress Xena quite as much as he thought he did. Solan is the leader of a rebellion against Xena. Takes place in the alternate timeline where there is no Hercules. Set some time after the events shown in Armageddon Now.
1. Chapter 1

She was so utterly bored. She pulled out her favorite dagger, one of the daggers that had drained Julius Caesar's lifeblood away. She still had fond memories of setting that killing up. Rome had been putty in her hands after that murder. She traced the edges of it, testing its sharpness, and then she threw it right into the chest of one of the passing servants. The servants all froze in motion.

"I don't like whistling," Xena announced. "In the future, if I want a canary, I'll ask for one."

The servants went back to their business, but they were a little more mechanical in their motions.

She needed a diversion. She went to her bedroom, knowing he would be waiting for her. He had the uncanny ability of knowing when she wanted him.

As soon as she was through the door, he grabbed the hand that had thrown the dagger and kissed it with ferocity. "I love when you're fresh from the kill."

She was rather wooden as he removed her empress robes and sent her hair crashing down in black waves, but she closed her eyes as she enjoyed his strategically placed kisses. Then she turned around and pushed him to the bed. She followed him there, moving like a lioness stalking her prey. She was ready to give him exactly what he had come for and she knew exactly how to keep him coming back for more. She never minded giving tribute to the god who had helped make her victory possible and it always proved a pleasurable diversion.

sss

Xena rose from the bed with the black silken sheet wrapped around her and went over to the mirror. Ares followed and stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her middle.

"I'm getting older," she said as she touched the crow's feet next to her eyes.

"Are you?" Ares asked as he placed a kiss on her bare shoulder. "I hadn't noticed."

"Don't play coy. It doesn't become you. You see the lines as well as I do. It's only a matter of time before I start finding gray hairs."

"You could still become my queen. You've more than earned that right and I would hand deliver the ambrosia right to your luscious lips," he offered as he inhaled the delicious scent of her hair.

"The last thing I want is to become a goddess. I just want to know what happens to me when I'm no longer as youthful and desirable as I used to be? Will you find another protégée to rule in my place?"

Ares laughed. "Only fools think desirability is connected to youth. You will never stop being desirable to me. To answer your question, no. There is only one you, Xena. When you're gone, I plan on letting the lands break up until your next reincarnation, my sweet."

Without even making eye contact with Ares, she said, "I'm sure you have temple duties to look after with temples over every part of the known world and I have an empire to run."

Ares didn't look happy but he said, "Until tonight then."


	2. Chapter 2

Xena stared out into the darkness unable to sleep with the god of war spooning her. She had no idea what he wanted from her. He wasn't after sex. That duty had already been fulfilled. He just wanted to cuddle with her while they slept and she found it revolting and unnecessary. She had heard many rumors before she had started sleeping with Ares. She had heard from the women who claimed to have been with him that he used them and then he had no desire to stick around afterwards. She had also heard that he even threatened to kill them if he found them in his bed when he came back. Xena certainly hadn't found that to be the case, although she wished she had. She much preferred sleeping alone.

She saw the shadow on the wall, but she lay perfectly still as if she hadn't seen anything. Assassination attempts were hardly an unusual occurrence. He must have been one of the more skilled ones to make it in this far. She was tingling in anticipation of the fight for it was bound to be a good one.

She caught the cold blade between her hands. She had planned for her next moves to be a kick to the gut, a kick to the head, and the blade through the heart of the would-be-assassin, but the man's eyes made her freeze. Even after all these years, she would know those blue eyes anywhere.

A blast of energy sent the man flying back against the wall. Ares leaped over Xena and grabbed him. Ares had the man's ash blonde ponytail in one hand and he was poised to kill with the other.

"Ares, wait!" Xena yelled.

"What?" he barked impatiently.

"Don't kill him," she said.

Ares looked at her, his mouth agape, "You want me to spare the life of this worm?"

The man's mouth was also open in surprise. He had clearly expected to meet his death. After all, Empress Xena and Ares, God of War, were not known for their mercy.

"I have other plans in mind for him," she said.

Ares blew a sigh of disgust and was going to kill the intruder anyway. Xena grabbed her chakram and used it to cut the ponytail and release him from Ares' grasp.

"I said I had other plans in mind for him," she repeated darkly.

Ares disappeared from the room with an angry glare. She got up from the bed and went over to take a closer look at the young man.

"Am I supposed to be grateful to you?" the man asked. "Why did you keep him from killing me? Do you expect me to be some sort of male concubine or do you just plan on having your way with me before killing me yourself?"

She slapped him hard, leaving a red imprint of her hand on his cheek. "Never speak to the empress like that again! I'll tell you what I plan on doing with you tonight. You're going to be my guest in the dungeons and I'm going to get a good night sleep. Guards!"

Two beefy, dangerous-looking men entered the room.

"Show this young man to the dungeons. Post the best guards at his cell and see to it that no one gets in to see this boy and I mean no one, not god nor man."

The bewildered boy was dragged off roughly to her legendary dungeons. She smiled wickedly as she fell back into bed. She was going to get a restful night of sleep after all and tomorrow was going to be very interesting. She had big plans for her son.


	3. Chapter 3

The room was pitch black. He couldn't see his hand in front of his face. It was so cold here, but most of all it was so quiet. It felt like there was not another soul to be found even though logically he knew there had to be someone outside the door and other prisoners down here. An hour hadn't passed before he longed for just a sliver of light, a touch of warmth, and the sound of a life other than his. Dark, cold, empty, solitary. A strange thought occurred to Solan. Was this a glimpse of what it was like to be Xena? Did she know that her own dark soul was the ultimate nightmare?

Solan had no way of knowing when morning came, so it was rather a shock when light came bursting into the room. His pupils hurt so much that he didn't even see who it was that came in before the darkness descended again, but he knew.

He could tell she was circling him like some sort of vulture. She must have known the room's dimensions well to be so confident in a dark room with the man who had tried to kill her during the night, but it was Xena, Destroyer of Nations. He didn't know if fear was in her vocabulary.

"I know you're not working alone," she said at last.

"And how would you know that?"

"You're not the first rabble-rouser I've had the pleasure of killing, boy. I know them when I see them. I can tell that you're the leader type with strong ideals. You have a group of weak-minded followers stashed somewhere."

"So why this game of cat and mouse? Why don't you just kill me and be done with it?"

"I'm willing to set you free if you tell me the names of your compatriots, boy."

"Stop calling me boy. My name is Solan and there's no way in tartarus that I'm going to tell you that. You can torture me all you want."

"Did you know I knew your parents, Solan?"

"Yes, I know. You killed my father."

Xena neither confirmed nor denied the statement. "Sometimes there are sacrifices to be made on the road to greatness."

Solan gave a cry of rage and hurled himself toward the voice. He quickly found himself flipped onto his back.

"I didn't come down here to play," she said. "I came down here to talk. Did you know that prisoners go mad down in my dungeons? You'd be surprised what all solitude will do to a person. I've seen people become babbling buffoons or physically sick just because they spent a few months without human contact. Sometimes they even save me the trouble of having to kill them, they kill themselves."

"You are sick," Solan said.

"I'd hate to see that happen to you," Xena continued.

"I don't care what you do. I will never talk."

"You may find this hard to believe, but I'm going to set you free anyway."

"You're right I do find it hard to believe. What's the catch?"

"I knew you were intelligent the moment I laid eyes on you. You're going to be my personal servant, although slave might be the more appropriate word as you don't really have a choice in the matter. You'll be right by my side day in to day out."

There was a long pause as Solan thought about it.

"You'll be able to make all the assassination attempts your little heart desires."

Solan despised her more and more the longer he knew her. That's exactly why he was going to do it. He didn't yet see what she was going to get out of this arrangement. If she thought he would eventually break down and tell her names, she was out of her mind.


	4. Chapter 4

Solan was now wearing a servant's garb and stood back silently while Xena looked through her robes.

"What should I wear? I have some crucifixions I want to see today. I think a deep red robe would do nicely. It hides the blood better. What do you think, Solan?"

"I think you're a monster."

"Red it is then," she said.

"Would you like me to help you get it on, Empress?" he asked coldly.

"I've been dressing myself for many years now. You can wait outside the door until I'm ready for you."

"As you wish," he said with hatred heavy in his voice and he started to leave.

She grabbed him by the hair as he turned and drew him back, so he could hear her deadly whisper in his ear, "You're going to have to work on that tone of yours. I can't have you talking like that in front of my people and army, now can I?"

"I'll do my best, Empress," he said through gritted teeth.

"See that you do," she said, releasing him.

Xena was changing into her new robe and she could sense the eyes on her. "Are you just enjoying the show or do you have something in particular to tell me?"

"You've never had a personal servant before," Ares accused, making himself visible.

"I've never wanted a personal servant before."

"Don't lie to me!" he raged. "You want him for a lover!"

"What's gotten into you? I've had many lovers to get to where I am today. It didn't bother you then."

"That was different," he growled. "They were a means to an end. It was in the name of war."

She smirked and he grabbed her roughly, pulling him to her. "Does something amuse you?"

"You amuse me. I suppose all your lovers have been in the name of war? Rest assured though that I have no interest in robbing the cradle," she said, jerking out of his grasp and smoothing down her robe.

"I don't believe you. You're a lying whore and I'm going to kill that boy and scatter his pieces across your bed."

"Over my dead body," she said, drawing her sword.

"Don't tempt me," he warned, drawing his own sword.

They both attacked with their sword at the same time. The room reverberated with the sound of the clash.

They went on like this for a time. Each blow was blocked and every thrust parried. Xena began to play by using her sword to caress his when they were against each other. It made a long, slow scraping noise.

Ares was still angry, but it was clear he was becoming turned on. His blows weren't as hard as they had been at the start of the fight. She made a move like she was going to go up his sword again, but then she quickly thrust the sword into his stomach instead. He fell onto the floor. His angry expression faded altogether into mirth and he laughed. He used his right leg to buckle her knees, so that she fell next to him and he pulled her sword out and sent both swords skittering across the room.

"I adore you," he whispered, still panting for breath from their brawl.

She crashed her lips against his in response.


	5. Chapter 5

Acres of bodies hung to crosses littered the front of the empress' palace. They stayed there until there was nothing left of their bodies. They served as a warning that Empress Xena never failed to kill those that opposed her. Solan felt revulsion at the sight and he hoped he never became hardened to it.

Instead of going to her throne, she went down the steps to where the prisoners awaited. They were already roped to the crosses, but the crosses hadn't been raised yet. Solan had to follow.

"I don't always oversee the crucifixions, but I want to make sure these five people die," Xena said right in front of them. "They were leaders much like yourself who tried to incite the peasants against me. They almost caused an uprising in Gaul. Now they will make a charming addition to my garden."

Solan saw that one of these people about to experience crucifixion was a woman. "I thought you didn't kill women."

"That's a grossly exaggerated fact. I don't kill women who are defenseless or innocent," she corrected.

"Did you know that the word excruciating means slow and agonizingly painful? It stems from the word crucifixion. It's the most humiliating, terrible, slow way to die. It feels like—"

"I know what it feels like to be on a cross," she said, interrupting.

"Even the Romans, cruel as they were during their reign, wouldn't put their own citizens on the cross."

"No, just the slaves and barbarians. They were all heart," she said sarcastically.

"It's more heart than you show."

She picked up the hammer, "I'm going to break their legs. It's really an act of mercy if you think about it. They'd be hanging for days if I didn't."

Solan cringed at the sound of the bones being shattered and the cries of pain. She stopped when she came to the last prisoner, one of the men. She handed the hammer to Solan, "I'm going to give you a chance to join in the fun."

He looked at her as if she were mad, "I'm not going to break his legs."

"Very well. We'll leave him like he is and see how long it takes him to die." She ordered the crosses to be raised.

Solan eyed the man with the unbroken legs. He was beaded in sweat and misery. The other prisoners would die before the day was out. This man's misery would be prolonged, but he was still going to see the same fate in the end. "Please," Solan said in a small voice.

Xena turned to him with a pretend look of bewilderment, "Please what?"

A little more loudly but with his voice trembling, he said, "Please, break these man's legs."

A smile of triumph broke out on her face, "As you wish." Xena broke the man's legs herself, but Solan knew it was because of his command.

sss

The crucifixions had taken most of the day. Solan stood up a foot or so behind Xena as she now took her supper. She was seated at the head of the long table. Up and down the table were the empire's most important people, in other words people that were almost as vile as the empress. Platters of rich food adorned the middle of the table.

As the meal drew to a close, only one drumstick remained in the bowl in front of Xena. The man on her right reached to take it. Xena took her carving knife and stabbed it through the man's hand.

To the man's credit, he didn't scream out, but he did turn a shade paler. He plucked the knife from the table and his hand and wound his napkin around his hand.

"I trust you all are now aware of how rude it is to take the last of anything before the empress has left the table." She rose up and Solan followed her out of the room.

It was amazing to Solan all of the different ways that Xena showed her cruelty in a day. It made him more determined than ever to save the world from the plague that was Xena.


	6. Chapter 6

Xena had traveled to Amphipolis with her army and Solan didn't know why. The empress didn't usually bother with small, unimportant villages. Xena left her army outside the village and went into Amphipolis with only Solan accompanying her.

"What are we doing here?" Solan asked.

"The people of Amphipolis have a special hatred for me and I enjoy basking in it."

Solan didn't know if that was true, but it certainly seemed so. Though no one dared to accost the empress, she received more hate-filled glares than usual. He followed her into a mausoleum. She stopped in front of a coffin.

"Who's in there?" Solan asked.

Rather than give him a verbal answer, she slid the stone lid back. The smell of death and decay filled the air and Solan thought he was going to be sick. Xena didn't even flinch; it must have been a sweet perfume to the Destroyer of Nations. He noticed the body had a wound.

"Let me guess, he was your first kill," Solan surmised.

"His was the death that set me on my chosen path," she said, sliding the lid back into place. "If he hadn't been killed, I would probably be some village idiot's wife by now. I always commemorate the anniversary."

They stood there in total silence until an elderly woman's voice broke through it, "You. Why do you come here every year?"

"Why do you come here every year?" Xena said without turning around. "You know I'll be here."

"He was my son!" shouted the woman in broken rage. "Must you come to gloat in his death? Leave now!"

Solan was filled with pity for the woman and he was also surprised. He had never heard tale of a person giving Xena an order and living long enough to tell about it.

"I will go when I am ready to go and I'm not ready," Xena answered emotionless.

Solan turned to face the elderly woman and tried to communicate with his eyes his sympathy to her.

"Who did you bring with you?" the woman asked, seeming to notice him for the first time.

"My lover, my slave, my chief in command? What do you care?"

"You're right. I don't care, but I do care that you're both here disturbing his rest. Why must you torture me? Isn't it enough that you've left me a mother with no children, but you couldn't begin to understand what that feels like, could you? Thank the gods, they made you barren. You would probably have murdered your children in their sleep."

Xena finally turned around and said to Solan with amusement in her voice, "She's right. I probably would have murdered them. Little children give me the shivers and babies just annoy the tartarus out of me. Unfortunately, the gods did see fit to make me fertile. I've had to kill many children in my womb over the years. Some were almost fully formed."

"You're even more evil than I thought!" the woman shouted with tears in her eyes. She picked up a rock and threw it at Xena's head.

Xena ducked and then motioned for Solan to follow her. The old woman had collapsed against the wall and sobs wracked her body. The sobs could still be heard after they made it outside.

"You killed her children?" Solan asked.

"All three of them," Xena answered. "I lead one son into battle. The other tried to assassinate me when I was conquering Chin to save the people from an evil empress. Sound familiar? The last one was a daughter. I strangled the life out of her bit by bit until there was nothing left. I relished her death most of all. I felt so free after I killed her."

"And you come back to rub salt in their mother's wound every year? You might as well kill the poor woman and get it over with. It would be more kind."

"Sometimes killing is the only thing to do. If you don't, life will chew you up, spit you out, and then chew you up some more. If you want to survive this life and be its master, a blood strewn path is the only path to walk. You either have to kill or you become killed either physically or in spirit."

"Your thinking is so twisted."

"Is it? You seem to agree with my philosophy already. It was you who in my bedroom just a week ago, trying to kill me, or do I have you confused with someone else?"

Solan froze in his tracks. Was he no better than her in seeking a solution that involved killing? He shook his head. She was just trying to get under his skin. He had to stop her. She was inhuman and she was also right about one thing. Sometimes killing was the only way.


	7. Chapter 7

Xena had borrowed traditions and customs from many of the conquered cultures. One of them was the Roman Coliseum. She had one built for Greece and she liked to arrange the entertainment herself. She had a private balcony to view the fights.

"Have you ever thought of going to the theater instead?" Solan asked sarcastically.

"Now why would I want to watch a bunch of silly, fake sword fighting when I could have the real thing?"

Solan couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the first fight. She was pitting a boy against a gladiator. "What are you doing? That boy can't be more than 13 or 14 at most."

"13 and don't count him out. The boy has been trained in weaponry from early childhood. His opponent is one of the worst gladiators in the empire, if not the worst. It's a fair match."

"He could still die," Solan sputtered.

"Of course. That's what makes it so much fun to watch."

The boy and the gladiator fought with swords. Solan turned away when the boy took a cut to the arm. He couldn't bear to watch.

Xena, on the other hand, watched the match with intense interest. Her bloodlust seemed to be the only thing that brought any life to her eyes. Unless you counted her lust in the bedroom, which from the disturbing sounds that he heard also seemed to be somewhat violent affairs.

When a catlike smile crossed her face, he knew one of them had emerged victorious. He looked down at the arena again and saw that the boy was on his back, his sword lying helplessly beside him in the sand. The gladiator held his sword pointing over the boy's neck.

The gladiator looked up to the balcony to see if the decision would be to kill or not. It was more of a formality because everyone knew the empress always chose kill.

"You make the call, Solan," she said suddenly.

Solan was stunned speechless. To make the decision whether the defeated opponent lived or died was a right reserved for the empress and she was giving it to him. He quickly found his voice and shouted, "Spare him!"

The boy took advantage of the gladiator's confusion and ran his own sword through his adversary without waiting for a judgment call.

"Good choice, Solan," Xena praised. "You've allowed the boy to make his first kill. A bright future no doubt awaits him. You've also made the gladiator's wife a widow and his 2 month old baby fatherless. Life is full of interesting choices, isn't it? Is one really more right than the other?"

Solan's blood began to boil. She was tormenting him by trying to heap guilt on him and make him see the world from her point of view. He didn't know what she was hoping to accomplish, but whatever it was, she was going to be sadly disappointed.

His thoughts were interrupted by whizzing arrows. Xena caught 2 arrows simultaneously, one that had been aimed for her and one that had been aimed for him. The guards leaped to action to catch the two archers, who were trying desperately to get back through the self-locking arena doors, but the empress was faster. She gave a blood chilling war cry and leaped off the ledge. She flipped through the air and landed on her feet. A normal person would have at least sprained something from a jump that high. The balcony wasn't even close to being ground level. She threw her chakram and as it was bouncing around, she took the sword from the dead gladiator and sliced the archers down in a matter of seconds. The chakram at last hit a spectator in the audience, one who had been holding a blowgun. She caught the blood-soaked chakram and the audience went wild with cheering. As much as most of them hated their empress, they couldn't help but respect her talent. Solan couldn't help but be impressed either. He would have never thought about looking for danger in the audience with the visible arena archers.

He began to doubt his ability to successfully assassinate the empress in that instant. She was more skilled in combat than he had thought was humanly possible and with the god of war backing her, it made it even more difficult. It wasn't that he wasn't still biding his time, looking for the perfect opportunity, but it was time he started focusing on rebellion plans. There was strength in numbers and he knew of no better place to start than Amphipolis. From what he had seen, it seemed like the people there would be interested in taking a stand against her.


	8. Chapter 8

Xena was in a bad mood even for Xena and when these moods came on her, she was guaranteed to stay in her room the entire day. She must have had just an ounce of self-control, enough to know that no living thing would survive her wrath and she would wake up the next day with an empty palace, an inconvenience she probably didn't want to fool with. Solan didn't think even Ares himself visited her when she was in that black of a mood. It provided him with an opportunity to go to Amphipolis.

The people of Amphipolis were much friendlier without Xena. A couple of people even smiled and waved at him. He went over to one of them. "I'm looking for an older woman. She visited her son's tomb a couple of weeks ago. She has curly gray hair with reddish brown streaks in it.

"You must mean Cyrene," the old man said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "She owns the tavern over there. She'll probably be busy being the lunch hour."

Solan gave his thanks and went into the tavern. It wasn't hard to spot her. The woman was energetic for a person of her age, or at least had a strong work ethic. She bustled about the tavern serving lunch and filling glasses.

She stared at him curiously only for a moment before returning to her work. "I know you from somewhere, don't I? Did you want lunch or only a drink?"

"Neither at the moment. I came here to talk to you."

She took another look at him. "Now I remember. You're Xena's little lackey. Well, whatever she has to say I don't want to hear it."

"My name is Solan. I'm only an unwilling slave. I have a proposition for you and it does not come from the empress. She doesn't even know I'm here."

"Well, let's hear it then. Don't worry about being discreet. No one here is a friend of the empress and they're not likely to care to listen."

"I know how much you hate the empress," Solan began in low tones. Despite Cyrene's assurances, he had to be cautious.

"I wish I hated her. It would probably be easier."

"You don't hate her? She took your children from you. How could you not hate her?"

"I take it she didn't tell you that I was her mother?" Cyrene asked dryly without batting an eyelash.

"No," said a shocked Solan. "She didn't."

"It doesn't surprise me," Cyrene said as he followed her into the kitchen where she began to work on the dirty dishes. "Xena never was much for confiding in a person. It's just as well. She has brought unbearable shame on the family and I don't care to have others know she's my daughter. In fact, she's dead to me. I had a little girl that I loved very much, but I lost her a long time ago."

Solan didn't know how to respond. It wasn't at all what he had expected.

"How long have you known Xena?" Cyrene asked rather suddenly. "Why do you want to stop her?"

"Not long. She killed my father. I was left an orphan, but I was raised with centaurs because my father was a hero. He stood up against Xena with the centaurs. For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to be a warrior to avenge his death."

Cyrene had stared at the blue eyes that reminded her so much of her daughter's during his accounting, "For a moment, I thought—" she broke off.

"You thought what?"

"Never mind. It was only a foolish old woman's fantasies. I'm so sorry about your father. I can tell what you're thinking. You're wondering how I gave birth to evil incarnate. She was never your typical girl, but she was a good girl. I think it all began when she lost her younger brother. Lyceus and Xena were close and when our village was attacked by a warlord, they fought them. Lyceus was killed. I didn't blame her for Lyceus' death. She was doing what she thought was right. Her brother was doing the same. I don't think I told her that at the time but in retrospect, I probably should have. I was in so much grief. The villagers blamed her for the deaths even though she saved the village. She conquered all the surrounding area to ensure that it didn't happen to Amphipolis again. Then I don't know what happened to her. Somewhere her misguided nobleness changed into evil. She did kill her older brother, Toris."

"I want to start a rebellion to overthrow her," Solan said.

"Kill her you mean because that's the only way you're going to overthrow her."

"Yes," he said softly. "That is what I mean."

"I can't participate in the murder of my own daughter. Dear gods, after all she's done to our family, to humanity, I can't be a party in killing her. Does that make me a coward?"

Solan kissed her weathered cheek. "No, it makes you a wonderful person. I will find the help I need elsewhere."

"I certainly won't stand in your way and I wish you luck because you're going to need it."

Solan left the tavern with a heavy heart. It was the first time he had thought of Xena as a human being with a family. As her mother and Xena herself had said that person didn't exist anymore, but he was going to feel regret at what he knew he had to do.


	9. Chapter 9

Xena was enjoying her solitude with a good drink when Ares appeared. "I'm not in the mood," she said straightaway.

"I'm not here about that. Do you know where your precious little slave is right now? He's in Amphipolis, gathering up people for a rebellion. He even tried to get your own mother to join."

"Did he now?" she said, amusement twinkling in her eyes. "What did Mommie Dearest say to that?"

"Never mind what she said. How do you plan on executing the rebel? I think I'd like to be around to watch this one."

"I don't plan on executing him yet. Besides, a little rebellion might be just what I need to get my creative juices flowing and get out of this funk. Why are you spying on the boy anyway? You know I have plenty of eyes and ears to report to me. You're not still jealous of him, are you?"

"Not at all. I know why you keep him around now. You're bored and he's an amusing little toy, an experiment. You want to see if you can corrupt him."

She raised her glass in salute, "You know me so well."

"He is going to be the death of you if you continue with this attitude," Ares said. "You have to end it now."

"Sometimes I think death might make an interesting change. I thought I would be happy as an empress, but I'm not. There's nothing to conquer, no new goals. I just maintain what I have. Do you think happiness always eludes the wicked even in death?"

"I don't like hearing you talk that way," he said.

"Why? Death is inevitable for mortals. What does it matter when it happens? I'd rather go out in a blaze of glory than as some decrepit old woman in a comfortable bed."

He took her glass from her and threw it against the wall.

"What the tartarus has gotten into you?"

"I—I love you! Are you satisfied? I don't like to hear you talking about your own death!" Ares knew the words were a mistake the moment they came from his mouth, but he couldn't keep it in any longer.

Her eyes widened in surprise but no other feeling came into them. "No, I'm not satisfied. I'm appalled."

"Don't you feel anything for me?" his voice was dark with anger but his eyes carried a trace of vulnerability.

She laughed callously. "With each drop of innocent blood I spilled and each time I gave my body away, I lost a little bit more of that ability. That's what evil does to mortals, Ares. You should know that. It eats away at their very soul and leaves a hollow vessel. For awhile I felt rage, pure white-hot rage. It felt so good to give into it and when you feel rage, you don't feel any of those other pesky little emotions like sorrow, loss, remorse. I don't even feel rage like I used to. I kill out of boredom and sometimes I kill just to find out if I can make myself feel anything. Oh, I feel something for you, Ares. I feel desire and up until now I felt respect. You never let emotions get to you. You were a totally physical being driven only by lust for fighting and lust for sex."

Ares didn't respond. He only glowered.

"What's the matter?" she mocked. "I thought the fact that I was heartless and cruel excited you. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Love is for the weak and the stupid. It requires selflessness. It requires caring. I'm past those idiotic sentiments."

He vanished in his customary flash of blue. She knew he could still hear her as she called out, "I am a product of your corruption! You molded me into your image! Do you not like what you see in the mirror anymore?"

He went to the first temple Xena had built for him. He took out his fury on the interior, knocking things over and kicking holes in the wall.

He had spent thousands of years without feeling anything except for the lusts she spoke of. Happiness had eluded him, but he had stayed busy and had moments of satisfaction. Then she came along, an equal in talent and intellect. She was a kindred spirit. No one had ever understood him the way she had. He knew without question that there would never be another like her again.

Life, even a godly life, was a joke. He had finally felt love and his love was rejected. Love was stronger than he had given it credit for though because he loved her still. Love was not a part of the darkness he had hereto fully embraced. Xena was still fully embracing darkness and therefore she couldn't feel love. It was ironic because he was the one who had taught her to do it. If she hadn't embraced her darkness, would she love him? He had a feeling he would never know.


	10. Chapter 10

It was the empress' birthday and it had been a holiday for the entire empire. It was now late evening and Xena was preparing to retire. She took off her headdress and handed it to Solan. He put it away and she took out a flask of her best wine and poured it into two goblets.

"Have a drink, Solan," she said, offering him one as she took a seat.

He looked at her suspiciously as he slowly took the glass from her.

"I haven't poisoned it if that's what you're concerned about. Poisoning is not my style. It's too cowardly. If I had a problem with you, I would just run you through with my sword."

Solan imagined she wasn't lying about that, but nonetheless, he waited until she took the first sip before he put it to his own lips. It was fine wine. The best he had ever tasted in fact. He hadn't gotten halfway through his glass before he began to feel woozy and the room began to spin. Solan fell to the floor with a heavy thud.

Xena jumped up. She smelled her own glass and then she smelled his. There had been poison in his goblet and it wasn't a poison she knew about. She picked him up and placed him in her own bed. For the first time since she was a child, she knew the meaning of the word fear. She called for the guards and told them to fetch the palace healer. She never left the bedside as she stroked his sweaty bangs back and took a handkerchief to his lips and mouth to ensure that no more of the poison entered into his system.

The healer came running into the room.

"It took you long enough," she growled. She pointed to the pale Solan lying in her bed, "Heal him."

She paced while Solan was being examined. At last, the healer stood up.

"How is he?" she demanded.

"He has been poisoned, Empress. It's a very rare poison that doesn't have a known cure. It's doubtful if he'll even make it through the night."

"That's not good enough." She grasped him chokingly by the collar and the healer barely had enough breath to respond.

"Well, I suppose the gods could help in this instance. I'm sure if we got all the priests and priestesses on the job, one of the gods would help him. Athena's probably your best bet because you would still need her blessing regardless of which god you went to. It may require some finagling though."

"Good then finagle. You have my permission because if he dies, you die. I don't have much use for a healer who can't heal, do I?" She released her grasp on him, so that he could get busy.

He rubbed his sore neck and said with a hoarse voice, "It will be as you wish, your imperial highness."

Xena returned to Solan's side. Solan felt the cool fingers on his forehead in his fevered state. Then he heard a hauntingly beautiful voice sing to him through the fog that enveloped him. It sounded a little strained at first as if the woman hadn't sang in years, but it soon cleared up into the sweetest notes he had ever heard.

"Hush now, my little one  
Please don't you cry  
Lay your head down  
On my shoulder and sigh

Sun's gone away  
And Mama will pray  
Silence will keep  
All while you sleep."

Solan had known instinctively that the woman singing the lullaby was his mother and he wondered if that meant he was about to die or if he was already dead.

Ares watched the scene with a jealous, burning vehemence. She kissed him tenderly on the forehead and rocked him in her arms like he was 2 instead of 20. He had poisoned Solan's cup himself. He wanted to stop the threat to the empire he and Xena had built together and he had wanted to see Xena's reaction. Although it was true when he had told her that he didn't believe Solan was her lover anymore, he had also known that there had to be more to her relationship with Solan than what she had told him from her unwillingness to kill him. What inflamed him the most about all this was that she did feel something for someone after all. She felt love, however fledgling, for her bastard son. She wouldn't when Ares got through.


	11. Chapter 11

When Solan opened his eyes the evening of the following day, he saw a tall woman standing over him. "Mother?"

"That's hardly a way to address the empress," Xena said gruffly, but Solan could have sworn it was less gruff than usual.

"I thought—I thought you were my mother for a minute. I think she was actually with me last night, singing to me."

"Your mother's dead," Xena said icily.

"I know that," Solan shot back. "I know I must have dreamed it, but it felt real." Solan thought Xena looked haggard with dark circles under her eyes like she hadn't gotten any sleep. He finally seemed to notice that he was in the empress' bed. "What happened to me?" he asked.

"You were poisoned and no not by me, but you can rest assured that it won't happen again. When someone messes with my personal property, I don't take it lightly."

Solan made a move to get up. "Don't move a muscle," Xena commanded.

He stopped, but he looked up at her in confusion, "Why? Are you going to slice me open with one of your weapons if I do?"

He thought he saw the corner of her lip twitch but then she said sharply, "Because I don't feel like training another servant. You can leave my room tomorrow."

"Where are you supposed to sleep?"

She pointed to the corner where another bed had already been placed. "In here of course. Now shut your eyes and get some rest before I decide your head would look better on my bedpost than on your body."

Xena went to one of the guestrooms. She wanted a private consultation with the god of war, "Ares!"

"You gave my sister back all of her old temples," Ares said accusingly, materializing directly in front of her.

"Don't take it personally. It was a bargain, Solan's health for all of Athena's old temples. You should have shown up and done something about it yourself if you wanted to keep them."

"You didn't give me a chance to. I don't remember hearing you call my name until now."

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about Solan's poisoning would you? Someone came into my room and put poison in one of the goblets. I don't know many people with a vendetta against my servant."

"Now why would I know anything about that? If I was you though, I would take more care. Who's to know that the poison wasn't meant for you? I don't know many people who knew that you were going to take a drink with a mere servant."

"Good, because if I find out you had anything to do with this," Xena warned, "I'll see to it that you don't have a single temple left standing."

"Is that a threat, my dear, because never forget that I helped you create this empire and I can help destroy it even quicker."

"I've got news for you, Ares, I don't care about this empire anymore. However, I do care about what happens to Solan."

He glared at her. The woman was insufferable, but he supposed that's why he loved her. "Far be it from me to interfere in your little game with Solan and I could care less whether he lives or dies. Just do me a favor. When that back-stabbing brat proves he can't be trusted like all mortals, don't say I didn't warn you." He left without waiting for her response.

She gave a sigh of disgust.

Solan watched when Xena came back into the room between slitted eyelids. He couldn't believe such a cold, heartless witch would let him have her own bed. He had no doubt it was more of her mind games. He wouldn't have been surprised if she had poisoned his drink and nursed him back to health just to try and gain his loyalty.

She got right into bed. Although she went straight to sleep, she tossed and turned a lot. Solan wondered if Xena's sleep was always so fitful. He would give a year's wages to know what was going on in her mind right now.

_Xena was in a dark cave. She was standing in front of a crowd. "Who are you and what do you want?" _

"_We may not haunt your dreams often, but you know who we are." It was the blonde girl she had crucified right before the Kronos stone had been stolen. She didn't remember her name, if she ever knew it, but she did remember her face. For some reason, she always remembered the faces._

_Xena drew her sword, "I've heard about dreams like these. You want me to feel guilt, so we can switch places. You can forget it. I feel no guilt. I'll kill each and every one of you again if I have to."_

_An elderly man spoke next. She had killed him in her early warlord days. "We come only to give warning."_

_She saw rivulets of blood streaming across the cave floor. Although the sight of blood hardly fazed her, she was curious. "Where is this blood coming from?" Xena asked._

_A middle-aged woman answered her question. She was one of the more recent, a mother who had tried to interfere in the execution of her son. "It's your blood, it's our blood, it's the blood of people not yet known to you or to any of us."_

_The blood continued to pour and she was now ankle-deep in it. "How do I stop it?" _

"_You can't stop it. It's your bloodguilt. Guilt can be ignored, but it never leaves a person. If you don't find redemption, you will drown in your guilt, but you will never escape it."_

_The river of blood was still rising and now she was waist-deep in it, unable to move. "Surely there's someone who can stop this river of death."_

"_Only sacred, blameless blood could ebb its flow." _

_Xena didn't know where blood like that could be found, but it wasn't the blood that ran through her veins. The river of blood swept over her, totally consuming her. _

She sat up, gasping for air. Her expression was that of someone who had seen or experienced something worse than death. Solan was still awake and watching as she got up and went over to the mirror. Her features instantly became hardened again and she splashed some cold water from her bowl onto her face.

Solan was more than stunned by what he had witnessed. Was it possible that there was even a speck of guilt somewhere in her black soul? It might mean that she could be convinced to change without more bloodshed. He was willing to give it a try; he would try anything.

The door opened and she threw her sword, pinning the entering soldier's shoulder against the door. He continued with his message in pained tones. "Ares and Athena are having a battle in Sparta. They're totally destroying the place. We thought you would want to be informed immediately."

Xena pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and pointer finger and closed her eyes as if trying to prevent an oncoming headache. "It's not enough that I rule over every man, woman, and child, but I have to keep the gods in line too. I swear to Hades, I'm tiring of this." She pulled her sword out of the man's shoulder. "Get my armor and horse."


	12. Chapter 12

Ares and Athena had done a number on Sparta. The Spartans had evacuated and a lot of buildings had been knocked down or burned in their godly fight. It seemed the only building left in perfect condition was the temple that they were fighting over.

"This temple did not belong to you before Xena conquered Sparta," Ares said, throwing a fireball at Athena. Athena easily dodged it and the fireball hit one of the houses.

"Of course, it did. Some of my most loyal worshipers were Spartans," Athena retorted, throwing a fireball at Ares. He dodged it as easily as Athena had and it hit yet another one of the houses.

"Is this a private fight or can anyone join?" Xena asked snarkily.

"This does not concern mortals," Athena said sharply, eying Xena like she was a pesky fly.

"Oh, like tartarus it doesn't," Xena said. "How am I supposed to get my taxes from Sparta if you leave them in total financial devastation because you two can't control your childish, petty jealousies? This was Ares' temple already by the way."

Athena blasted Xena back, causing her to crash into a column.

"Okay," Ares said. "Now you've made me angry." He took his sword out and charged Athena.

Athena calmly captured Ares' sword with a couple of swift tactical moves. "Do you ever think with an organ that is above your waist?"

Xena's head had cleared somewhat and she used her chakram to relieve Athena of both the swords.

Ares laughed at the surprised expression on Athena's face. "You have to love her."

"No, I really don't," Athena said coldly.

"Aw, what's the matter, Sis? You're not still bitter that she slaughtered your chosen mortal like she was a helpless little lamb, are you?" Ares taunted.

"You've had your fling long enough, Ares," Athena warned. "I've already started to amass a new army and you better believe I'm not the only Olympian tired of your reign. You and Xena won't be in charge of the mortal realm for much longer." Athena disappeared in a flash of gold.

"It appears there's some excitement to look forward to," Xena said as she dusted herself off.

sss

Solan stiffened when he saw a little girl and her younger brother come into the throne room. He didn't know what their crime was, but he couldn't believe that Xena would punish them harshly.

Ares smiled to himself as he watched the two children being dragged before the throne. He stood on Xena's left side. Only Xena knew he was there. He enjoyed watching her work and this case was going to be extra enjoyable. The waifs had big dark blue eyes and thin, fair hair. It was enough to pull at the heartstrings of most individuals. Xena, however, was not most people. The children had been attempting to steal food from the palace kitchen, but Ares had quickly worked the situation to his advantage. He had convinced them that the pretty palomino horse in the stables needed to be set free and the guards had caught them in the act at just the right time, as Ares knew they would.

"These children were caught trying to steal your horse," one of the guards told her.

Xena's expression instantly became one of stone. She didn't prize people very highly, but she treated the horse like it was a princess. There was an almost unnatural bond between Xena and her horse, and she wouldn't stand for people messing around with her horse, whatever their age. "Add them to the slave trade and sell them to the cruelest master you can find."

"They're just kids," Solan pleaded, hoping to help her see reason. "Do you know what a cruel master will do to them? They don't look strong enough to put out a lot of work. He'll beat them to death and the gods only know what other kind of horrors they could face."

The guards hadn't yet complied with Xena's orders, waiting to see if Solan's plea would change her mind.

"You are undermining my authority and judgment," Xena said severely to Solan.

"That's because he doesn't care anything about you or your way of life. He hates it and you with all that he is," Ares whispered in her ear. He had already set the wheels in motion for Solan's fall from grace. Now it was time to finish the job. He had planted "evidence" on Solan. "Look in his pocket. He is trying to do you in by poisoning. He has free access to your room. That's why he was so hesitant to take the goblet from you. He couldn't remember which goblet he had put the poison in. He is looking for another opportunity to add it to your drink or food."

"Seize him," Xena ordered, gesturing to Solan. The guards didn't hesitate to comply this time. Ares knew that as dark and detached as she was, it hurt her deep down that Solan was still trying to kill her, or so she thought, after she had saved his life and risked the ire of her patron god to do it because she had cared. It was the same kind of betrayal that had made her dark and detached in the first place. However, he still sensed her hesitation.

"You'll never be able to convince him to be anything other than the saint that he thinks he is. He's a waste of time. I know you were thinking he might be a good candidate to mold into the world's next leader and he gave you a sense of purpose again, but forget him." He put his hands on her shoulders. "I can give you what you want, a child to mold into the empire's next ruler. It's so much easier to train them up in the way they should go when you have them from birth. Solan has been brainwashed and his father's genes were weak to begin with. You wouldn't have to worry about a child that I sired. He or she would instinctively understand the need to kill and whatever else it takes to gain power and give order."

There was a long pause as Xena thought about everything Ares had just told her. "Get them all out of my sight," Xena said to the guards, not even looking as Solan was carried off.


	13. Chapter 13

Ares and Xena went into the bedroom locked in a hot and heavy kiss. He broke their kiss. He left her to take a bottle from her drawer. He pulled the cork out and dumped the pungent-smelling sap that was in it out onto the floor. "You won't be needing this now."

Xena looked slightly taken back.

"You don't think I know that you take the sap from giant fennels whenever you get pregnant?" Ares asked as he went back over to her. "You're hardly the only Greek woman to do so and I make it my business to know everything about you."

"You astonish me, Ares. I would have thought the idea that I was killing our little bastards would have bothered you."

"It's true I've wanted a child from you for awhile because I know how unstoppable a child of ours could be, but I knew you weren't ready for a child yet. I have more patience than you give me credit for," he said as he literally ripped her robe off of her.

She smirked as she eyed the discarded robe, "Yeah, they should have added the god of patience to your title."

He smiled as he leaned in to kiss her. He loved when she bated him. He would hold onto her by whatever means was necessary whether she loved him or not. He knew of no better way to do that than through a child. He also knew the key to keeping her satisfied with their life together as it was came through her lust to conquer by bloodshed. He knew their next battlefield lay on Mount Olympus. It would be challenging enough to keep her entertained and it also take care of his problem with Athena and the other Olympians, who were getting tired of him being the most worshiped by mortals.

"Speaking of children," Ares said, although he was finding it somewhat hard to speak coherently with Xena running her hands over all over his chest, "how would you feel about overthrowing the Olympians and creating a new race of gods?"

Xena stopped as she considered it, but it was clear from the sparkle in her eye that the idea intrigued her.

Ares pulled her tightly and possessively against him, "You could rule the empire from Mount Olympus and then you truly would be unstoppable. Think how much fun it would be planning the battles for the greatest conquest a mortal has ever made. It would be just like old times. What do you say?" He swept her hair back, so he could devour her neck while she thought about it.

Xena was flushed with excitement at the thought and at Ares' current actions. "I say death to the gods."

sss

Ares was even more satisfied than usual. She had been more aggressive than ever if that were possible. She was obviously still feeling tension from the situation with Solan and was releasing it in the bedroom. He was also enjoying the fact that her hands were still running across him even though they were finished. She was obviously still keyed up on the Olympian idea.

"Do you even fool around with other women anymore?" Xena asked sharply, spoiling the moment.

Ares knew that other women would have wanted the answer to be no, but Xena counted it as a weakness. He supposed he counted it as a weakness too but like any weakness he couldn't help it. Other women just didn't excite him anymore. "What business is it of yours?"

"Just because I have no interest in taking other lovers, which doesn't stem from affection for you I assure you, doesn't mean you can't. It might cure you of that silly notion you have that you love me."

"It might," he snarled.

"And we might be able to plan a brilliant campaign if you weren't trying to screw me every time you saw me," she said as she stood up and tossed him his pants.

He felt sure steam was rising off him at this point. Oh, he hated her, but he loved her too. It was amazing to him how you could dislike someone so strongly at moments but still feel love for them.

sss

Xena laid a hand across her middle as she examined her figure a few days later. She could almost feel the child within her even though there were no outward signs of it yet. She had to give Ares credit. There was no one she knew of that was more capable in the bedroom. She hadn't expected to be pregnant this soon.

She knew exactly who she wanted to be the first to know. She went down to Solan's holding cell. He was being held there until she decided what she wanted to do with him. She brought a torch with her. She wanted to be able to see his face when she told him the news. Solan looked thinner and weaker brought about by his small rations of muddy water and moldy bread no doubt. He wasn't even able to get up from the floor. He wasn't as tan as he used to be either with no sunlight.

"What do you want? Am I finally going to be hung on a cross? I know how much you love that method of execution."

"I came to share the good news. I carry Ares' seed in my womb. Your next empress or emperor rests within me."

"The gods help us all," Solan said in horror and it was a horror. He couldn't imagine two crueler, more evil parents. The child would grow up to be an absolute monster.

"I wouldn't worry about the gods. They won't be with us much longer."

"What does that mean?" Solan asked.

Xena ignored his question. "You could have been my heir you know if you had played your cards right."

"You're lying. Why would you have wanted to make me your heir?"

"Because you're my son."


	14. Chapter 14

"No," he said, shaking his head vehemently. "I couldn't be. My mother was a good person and Kaleipus told me my mother was dead."

"Of course he did," Xena said calmly, glorying in his distress. "Kaleipus hates me with every fiber of his being as do all the centaurs. I'm a monster in children's nightmares. You don't up and tell a child that monster is their mother, do you?"

"It just doesn't make sense," he said, still in denial.

"It makes perfect sense, Solan. Think about it. I would have killed any other assassin. Didn't you ever wonder why I decided to spare you? I thought you had enough of me in you to make a good successor. Clearly I was wrong."

"Why are you telling me this now?" Solan asked, knowing now that it had to be true. It was the only logical reason that she had spared him.

"I like to see other people's pain and it does hurt, doesn't it? I may have well as taken a knife to your gut and twisted it in there. You thought you had a sweet, loving mother who sang you lullabies and would have done anything for you. Instead, you have me."

A thought occurred to Solan. "It doesn't mean—Ares isn't my—no, it can't be—"

She smiled sardonically as she answered, "No, Ares is not your father. You are the son of Borias."

"And you killed him. That makes what you did ten times worse or was he just as bad as you were?" Solan was afraid to know the answer. All his childhood beliefs about his family were crumbling down around his ears.

"He was in the beginning. He and I made a fairly formidable pair, but he betrayed me and sided with the centaurs. He died at the hands of my lieutenant even though I gave the command to capture him unharmed. I had just given birth to you as he lay there dying. If he hadn't been a sentimental fool, he wouldn't have died. He came back to our camp just to rescue you and me. Do you see what caring does now, but some people just never learn."

"What do you know about caring? You didn't care that he died and you didn't care about me."

She gripped him by his hair and slammed her knee into his nose hard, very effectively breaking it. "I mourned for him and I mourned for you!" Blood was gushing down his face from his now disfigured nose as she backed away. "I used to feel things under all the pain and darkness believe it or not. Of course, those days are long gone. You can go rot in the pits of Tartarus for all I care."

"Why did you give me away?" Tears mingled with the blood. He was ashamed of the tears. His mother didn't love him, but so what? It was hardly surprising considering who his mother was. Why was he crying like a little child?

"I know what kind of mother I would have made. There was something about Borias that almost got to me back then and he convinced me you shouldn't grow up in the lifestyle we had. You would have either died by one of my many enemies or you would have become like me. I didn't want that for you."

She put a hand under his chin, forcing him to look up at her. "I realize now that it was a mistake. You wanted a warrior's life it seems. I could have taught you how to handle a weapon better than anybody and you could have made a fine emperor. It's a pity really but que sera sera."

She picked him up roughly and dragged him outside. Solan was too weak to prevent it.

"This could have all been yours. If you had just feigned cruelty, you could have done whatever you wanted with the empire when I was gone. You could have freed the people to your heart's content," she said as they stood at the top of a stone staircase.

"If I had feigned cruelty, I would have eventually become cruel."

"You're wise for one of your tender years." She pushed him down the stairs. When he hit the ground, she said, "If I ever see your face again, I will kill you."

A battered Solan lay face down on the dusty, hardened earth. Where was he supposed to go from here?


	15. Chapter 15

The tavern was empty. Everyone that was staying had already gone to bed and Cyrene was doing some last minute cleaning. Her eyes grew large when she saw Solan come through the door. "What in the world happened to you? Who did this to you? Never mind. I think I can guess." She hurried over to him and sat him down in a chair.

The blood on his face was mostly dried up now, but he realized he must have looked a terrible mess. He couldn't believe that the woman in front of him was his grandmother, but he was glad. It would have been exactly the way he would have wanted a grandmother to be.

She had taken a bowl and wet washrag and was cleaning his face. "I'm going to try to move your nose back into place."

Solan nodded but from the feel of it, he didn't think it was going to do a lot of good. He bit his lip to keep from crying out as she adjusted it and his eyes watered from the extreme pain.

"I don't think your nose is ever going to look the same again, but it will heal," Cyrene told him. "And don't worry, most girls will find it attractive. It adds some character to your face and shows that you're a real warrior."

"I think I would have rather just been ugly and characterless," Solan said dryly.

She smiled as she rinsed the rag in the bowl of water. "Why did she break your nose?"

"I made an impertinent assumption. Needless to say, I'm no longer under her service."

"I think that's for the best," she said, unable to keep from looking at his nose. "I know it gave you a chance to kill her, but you're fortunate that she didn't kill you instead."

"She promised to kill me if she saw me again. I think the only thing that kept her from killing me this time is that I—I'm her son."

Cyrene slumped onto the chair beside him at the news. "I can't believe it. I thought—I hoped." Tears of joy streamed down her face as she reached over to hug him, being careful to avoid his nose and being gentle to avoid causing added pain to his bruised body. "You don't know what this means to me."

"I think I do. What bothers me is that I keep thinking that there must be some good in Xena somewhere. Why didn't she just kill me? She had no reason to keep me alive anymore. Why hasn't she killed you? You must be a painful reminder of who she used to be."

"Sometimes I think she knows it's crueler to leave a person alive."

"That's possible, but I also saw her having a nightmare. I saw the face of someone who wasn't completely at peace with they had done even if it was just for an instant. If we can somehow reach that part of her, she might have a chance to become the person you remember. I really think that somewhere deep down she cares about you and me at least, so we may have a shot at getting to her."

"It's a long shot," Cyrene said. She clearly didn't think there was even the slightest chance of that happening, but she was willing to humor him.

"I know it is, but even if we can't rescue Xena from her lifestyle, maybe we can at least find a way to rescue my little brother or sister. She's pregnant you know with another child and she intends on keeping this one to be her heir. We can't let that happen for the child's sake, not to mention the empire's sake. It will mean going against Ares, the father."

Cyrene nodded and wiped her eyes dry. With steely resolve, she said, "I won't miss out on watching another grandchild grow up. If I have to go down to the pits of Tartarus and back, if I have to stand up to all the gods on Mount Olympus, I will rescue my grandbaby."

Solan smiled and squeezed her hand. He was beginning to see where he and Xena had gotten their stubborn streak.


	16. Chapter 16

Xena and Ares looked over a map of Mount Olympus and the surrounding area.

"We need to get a hold of some hind's blood," Xena said. "I assume you can manage to get some."

"Isn't that a little extreme? I was thinking more along the lines of chaining them up with some of Hephaestus' unique chains."

"Where's the fun in that? Besides, the gods aren't going to sit quietly while we take over Mount Olympus. They will be out to kill and don't think your loving family won't try to dispose of you too. We'll need that power at our disposal."

"I don't know. I still have qualms about using hind's blood and it won't be as easy to get as the chains."

"But it can be done. What's the real trouble? Are you worried I'm going to use the blood on you?" She patted his knee in a condescending manner, "Don't worry. I'll need you to make babies if nothing else. We can't leave Mount Olympus empty of gods. A world without gods would be unthinkable."

He grabbed her hand from his knee, gripping it hard to the point of almost breaking it. "We'll use hind's blood, but it stays with me at all times and we're only going to use it when I say we're going to use it."

"That's fine with me. I don't care who carries it as long as we have it," Xena said compliantly. She turned back to studying the map.

Ares watched her with suspicion. She had given into that demand way too easily. He didn't trust the woman as far he could throw her even less than that. With the power to kill gods so near, he was going to have to be extra vigilant around her because he didn't doubt she would use it on him if the opportunity presented itself.

sss

All the gods had been called to a meeting except for Ares and his godly sympathizers, chiefly Discord, Strife, and Deimos.

"We're all going to die," Lachrymose said morosely as they opened up the meeting. "Xena and Ares will murder us in our beds."

"No one said anything about dying, you nitwit," Apollo said. "I don't know why you even bothered to show your face. No one worshiped you before Xena took over anyway."

"Pick on the god of despair," Lachrymose said. "Everyone does."

"What we need is a plan," Athena said, redirecting the meeting back to the topic at hand, "to make the empire crumble. Now I've already started to rebuild an army among the mortals, but there's still a lot of fear among them. We're going to have to think of ways to show our power among them to regain their faith and give them courage. That means answering every single prayer that they throw at us or at least the ones that aren't too unwise. We have to show them that Ares and Xena don't make all the rules."

Demeter spoke up, "I don't mind throwing the seasons out of whack. That ought to get their attention to start with. Xena's pregnant by the way and she fully intends on keeping this one. If you ask me, she doesn't need another one. Fertility has been wasted on her, but no one ever consults me anymore. Although, I must say that giving away her first child was a finer act of motherhood than I believed her capable of."

"We're not here to discuss her mothering skills," Athena cut in. "However, what is a good point is that she and Ares fully intend on having this one, which could make this mortal empire last even longer and which god do you think their child is going to favor?"

"It's time Ares realizes he is not the king of the gods," Zeus said, his dark eyebrows furrowed. "I believe I will deal with my son personally."


	17. Chapter 17

A couple of months had passed. Solan had enjoyed spending time with his grandmother, helping her out at the tavern as he healed and they made plans.

Cyrene was washing the dishes and he was drying. Solan watched the unseasonable snow that was falling outside. It seemed mortals weren't the only ones tiring of Xena's empire.

"Grandma, I think the thing to do is capture Xena and try to talk some sense to her. I don't think it would take much to convince her that motherhood isn't for her. We could talk her into giving us the child."

"I'm sure you're a fine warrior with a lot of talent, but you're still young. Did you know your mother could catch fish with her bare hands by the time she was 5. She could beat up her older brother who was a good couple of feet taller than her at the time by the time she was 6."

"Are you telling me all this to say that I don't have a chance with capturing Xena?"

"I'm afraid I am," she said gently.

"Don't worry I've already realized that during the time I spent with her. That's why I was thinking we would get some outside help."

"I know you have a lot of people that have joined the cause, but most don't have a lot of fighting experience and you know that if Xena does any kind of traveling, she has an army with her and you wouldn't be able to get a lot of people into the palace, if any."

"I know that too. That's why I think the gods would be able to give us the help we need."

"The gods?" Cyrene echoed dubiously.

"We would only need the help of one. Their temples are so sparse we might have to travel a good bit to get to one depending on who we choose, but it would be worth it."

"It's not an unreasonable idea. Hestia might be a good choice. She is the goddess of family and home."

"I doubt it. Xena killed off all of the Hestian virgins. I don't think she would be very sympathetic to the cause."

"That's true. Well, what about Hermes? I've always kind of admired him."

Solan had to restrain a chuckle. "I don't think he's quite the right one for our situation, but I think you're getting warmer. What about Aphrodite?"

"Aphrodite? I don't know that she would want to help. I think she's more the goddess of romantic love."

"It won't hurt to ask and at the very least she seems one of the more harmless of the gods."

"Is there such a thing as a harmless god?"

"Well, no, but she's probably our best chance. She has the most temples after Ares, so it will only be a day's ride and because she has more temples than most of the gods, she's the most likely of them not to completely hate Xena."

"We'll close up the tavern tomorrow and go. I just hope this doesn't turn into a blizzard. The gods are definitely upset about something," she said, glancing at the still falling snow.

sss

They hurried into the temple to take shelter from the storm, dusting off the snow from their clothes and hair.

Cyrene looked around the inside of the temple with a critical eye, seeing the mirrors, the statues of the goddess, the pretty and sparkly possessions that littered the place. "Are you sure we've come to the right goddess? She looks too self-absorbed to be of much help."

"I resent that," Aphrodite said, materializing with her hands on her hip and a pouty expression. "I'll have you know that I'm totally into helping out poor mortals like yourselves."

"She even sounds self-absorbed," Cyrene whispered to Solan.

"Hello, I can hear. Do you want my help or not?" Aphrodite said sulkily.

"We do," Solan said quickly.

Aphrodite looked him up and down, "You I can definitely help."

Cyrene stepped in front of her grandson protectively, "We're here about his mother, my daughter. I assume you've heard of Xena."

"The empress babe? Duh. She's been like all the gods have been talking about lately. The topic has become a real bore."

"We want help capturing Xena. We think we can talk with her," Solan explained, "and we thought who better to disarm a warrior than the goddess of love?"

"Your shameless flattery is so cute," she said, scrunching up her nose and smiling, "but I'm afraid I can't help you."

"That doesn't surprise me," Cyrene said. "Let's go find some help elsewhere, Solan."

"It's not that I can't or don't want to. I could take away her fighting skills with a snap of my fingers," Aphrodite said as she snapped her fingers in demonstration. "It's just that my bro, Ares, would totally have my head on a silver platter if I messed with his girl."

"We understand, but Ares wouldn't have to know until it was over, would he?" Solan asked. "What if it was only for 24 hours? Just enough time to talk with her and you could keep him occupied that long, couldn't you?"

She nodded slowly as she thought about it, "Yeah, I could do that. I could even bring her to you to save some time. Okay, you have a deal, but I can only promise 24 hours. When 24 hours is up she reverts to her butt-kicking self ready or not."


	18. Chapter 18

Ares was suddenly surrounded by a crowd of women, pawing and pulling at him. They weren't mortal women either. They were made up of goddesses and demigoddesses, hence there would be no getting away from them. This may be some people's idea of perverse pleasure, but it wasn't his.

"Aphrodite!" Ares yelled, his nostrils flaring. He recognized her handiwork.

Aphrodite appeared with two handsome men at her side.

"What are you up to?" Ares raged at her as he fought to the front of the cluster of women.

Aphrodite's eyes became wide with feigned innocence, "You don't like my present? You've seemed a little grumpier than usual lately and I wanted to cheer you up, bro."

"Call them off me now," he growled.

"Well, I would, but you see while the love spells on them are way temporary, they have to run the course. They won't wear off until 24 hours from now."

Ares wasn't quite buying it, but it was clear there would be no shaking these women until the day was up. "I'm aware of the plotting that's been going on behind my back, so if you've done something to Xena—"

Aphrodite cut him off. "As if, I think you two are made for each other. I do think you could both do with a little less of the blood and guts obsession. I mean that is so last century. And you're not the most fashion forward of all the couples I've ever seen either. I mean what is it with all the black and your weapons hardly ever match what you're wearing."

Ares' response was to snort like an angry bull. Aphrodite knew how to read his anger signs and she knew when it was time to disappear. "Catch you later."

sss

True to her word, Aphrodite had delivered Xena into the middle of Amphipolis after sundown. No one would be likely to see the capture that way. She had also been delivered without weapons, not that they would have done her any good after what Aphrodite had done. Xena was looking pregnant by now and she had a small baby bump under her empress robes.

Solan went up behind her and gagged and bound her with some ropes he had procured. It was even easier than Solan had expected. It was like tying up a kitten. He took her into the tavern.

Cyrene led them to Xena's old room. It had been left untouched. For a moment, it seemed to touch Xena, but nothing could get past that steely façade for very long. Her defenses were back up and there was murder in her eyes, but there was nothing she could do about it.

"We just want to talk with you," Solan explained, lowering her onto the bed.

Cyrene pulled up a chair and started, "I've never really gotten a chance to tell you this before, but I don't blame you for Lyceus' death." That immediately caught Xena's interest and she looked at Cyrene sharply. "I was angry with grief at the time and I may have said some things I didn't mean, but I really don't. You have made nothing but bad choices since then, however, and you do need to own up to that. You can't be satisfied with the way you're living. It's not how I raised you to be. You made a good decision to keep Solan out of your lifestyle. Please, do the same for your next child and yourself."

Solan took over the conversation. He put his hand over Xena's, but she jerked away from it. Solan continued on as if nothing had happened. "I know that was you that night I was sick. You were the caring mother that I had always dreamed about and I know that person's still in there somewhere." Xena rolled her eyes and looked away, but her body was tense. "You have to let that person out for everyone's sake. You said yourself once that you were tired of being empress. Let us help you. We want to help you." Xena was still looking the other way. "Now that we've said our piece, I'm going to take the gag off."

As soon as the gag was off, she looked at them and said, "You two are the biggest, densest saps I've ever known. Did you really think you could give your little speeches and that would make everything all better? I am who I am and you might as well face it. What kind of trick did you two pull anyway? It's like I can't even remember how to fight. Whenever I try to think about it, I just get this warm, fuzzy feeling. You've obviously had some divine intervention. Who did you go to? I'm curious. Was it Mnemosyne?"

"Does it matter who it was?" Solan asked.

"Ares will come after me and he won't be in a good mood either when he finds out what you've done."

"He's a little preoccupied at the moment," Solan said. "And it's only temporary anyway. In 24 hours you'll be back to your normal self."

"So why are you even wasting your time with me?"

"Because you are worth trying to save," Cyrene said.

"Am I? Toris didn't think so. He came up behind me to try and stab me. He always was such a coward. I stabbed him first though. His warm blood shot all over my hand, but he wasn't dead immediately. Did you know that he called your name when he was dying? 'Mother, Mother' ".

Cyrene stood up, slamming her chair down hard and glaring fiercely at her daughter.

Xena just looked back at her mother serenely and mildly amused.

"There's just no use talking to her," Cyrene said to Solan. "She's a psychopath and we should just slaughter her right now while we have a chance." Rather than picking up a weapon, she stormed out of the room. Solan stole a glance at Xena, who still looked as if she were enjoying herself, before he went after Cyrene.

He gently took her by the arm, forcing her to turn around and talk to him. "She's just saying all that to keep you away and to make you give up," Solan explained.

"Well, it's working."

"Don't you see? We're bothering her and she wants to make us angry and disgusted enough to leave her alone. She'd be indifferent to our presence if she was past all hope."

"We've talked as much as we can. I don't think she's even listening anymore."

"You're right about that. Let's just sit with her for the rest of the time. Show her that we care and that there's nothing she can say to make us give up. We'll prove we're not afraid of her by not running away when she gets her fighting ability back and show that we're even willing to place our lives in her hands."

"I'm not afraid of her," Cyrene said. "If there's one thing I'm not, it's afraid of her."

"I know that, but you need to show her that. I know she looks tough, but I don't think she really believes that anyone could care about her anymore being the way she is, so let's prove to her that she's wrong."

Cyrene nodded. "I must be crazy, but okay."

"Back so soon? Did you want more details?" Xena asked, obviously trying to goad her mother into another argument.

Cyrene didn't answer. She picked up some knitting and got busy.

Solan and Cyrene took turns sitting with her while the other ran the tavern downstairs. Xena refused the food and drink they offered her even when Cyrene tempted her with her favorite food. Xena had lost interest in talking to them, but her eyes were always discomfortingly on them.

At last, the 24 hours were almost up and the sun was beginning to set.

"Your time is almost gone," Xena said, looking out at the twilight. "If I were you two, I'd run away now and never think about me or this child I carry again."

"Please," Cyrene pleaded with tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. "We love you. We only want what's best for you and your coming child. You have to know that. I would give your child a good home."

"You have to think about what's best for the baby if nothing else," Solan said, "and I know that as much as you want to deny it, you know being emperor or empress isn't what's best for the baby. You're not happy or at peace with the way things are and you don't want to condemn an innocent child to the same fate. I know you don't or you wouldn't have given me up in the first place."

Darkness fell and Xena broke out of her bonds in less than a minute. "You're right. I'm not happy, but I will be soon." She took the ropes and tied them around their necks and hands, using the ropes like a leash. "If you two love me so much, you can come with me to the battlefield. You'll be able to see history in the making. I plan on killing each and every god with Ares' help of course and if I needed a reason before, this little incident has cinched it. The gods are playing with the wrong mortal."

"You can't kill all of the gods," Cyrene breathed. "They'll kill you first before that happens."

"We'll see about that, won't we?" Xena pulled on their ropes, causing them to fall to their knees, and dragged them mercilessly along out into the snow.


	19. Chapter 19

The snow was still swirling. As soon as it looked like the snow might melt away, another snow storm came. Xena and her army were camped out with hundreds of tents, not far from Mount Olympus.

Xena was in her warrior dress and planning how to divide the army and get the large number of soldiers up the mountain, no easy task. The soldiers would be slaughtered like pigs when the gods realized it, but it didn't matter. They were only the distraction, a way to keep the gods busy while she and Ares killed them off one by one using the hind's blood. She would have the element of surprise because they would never expect Ares to give her a weapon that could be used against all gods because who would trust her with it, but she would talk Ares into letting her have the hind's blood. She didn't believe Ares would go through with executing each and every single god. For all his bluster, he hadn't the backbone for it. He wouldn't have a problem with the ones he hated certainly, but there were some gods she knew he might have trouble with like Aphrodite. He hadn't even sought any serious kind of revenge for the stunt she had pulled on them, but Xena intended on killing every last one of them except for Ares. It was the only way to ensure that the empire stayed together and that their child would inherit everything.

Ares appeared in the tent right behind her, a favorite place of his. He slipped an arm around her in a victorious sort of hold.

"We're truly at war with the gods," she said in a satisfied tone. "It's a brilliant war strategy on their part to cut off the food supply. I've used it myself. They've destroyed all the crops and they believe we'll have to beg them for food to survive. Fortunately, I'm already one step ahead of them and I have storehouses filled with food for just such emergencies. We'll have Demeter fix the seasons before we kill her."

He kissed the back of her neck. "They don't know have the first idea who they're dealing with that's for sure. I have the hind's blood."

She turned around, excitement flashing in her eyes. She fingered the new pendant around his neck in a seductive manner. It looked a bit like her chakram but the center of the pendant was filled with the blood. It was like it was a sign that she was meant to own it. "How did you get it?

"Let's just say I had to go to a strange world to get it."

"That means we can move our plans forward."

"Aren't you going to wait until after the baby comes?" He looked pointedly stomach; she looked ready to deliver any day now.

"I've waited long enough. I'm ready for blood now. I've always wondered if the gods have the same colored blood under their immortal skin."

"You get me so hot when you talk like that," he whispered as he pulled her down to the rug skins.

"Control yourself," she said, standing back up. "There'll be plenty enough time for sex after we've conquered Mount Olympus. We have a lot of planning to do and we have to move fast if we're going to catch the gods unaware."

He used an arm to prop himself up and watched her bemusedly, "I thought pregnant women were supposed to be horny."

"Think again," she sneered before plunging outside.

Cyrene and Solan were being held captive in one of the other tents. She went into the tent. The guard had just slammed his fist into Solan's gut, knocking the wind from him. Both Solan and Cyrene had apparently taken a good beating from the man and they were bound up, hanging from their hands, so they had no choice but to take it.

"I don't remember giving you permission to beat any of the prisoners," she said it in her perfectly calm way, but there was danger in her eyes.

"Well, n—no," he stuttered, "but you see th—they have rather sharp ton—tongues. I thought they should be tau—taught a lesson."

"You're not here to think." She took her chakram from her hip and sliced his throat open. "I don't stand for my men not following my orders to the letter."

"I suppose I should say thank you," Cyrene said, a little garbled from speaking with a swollen bottom lip, "but I don't think it was necessary to kill the man."

"Well, don't get too gushy about it. I don't take any kind of insubordination. If I did, the empire would fall. The people have to live in complete fear of me."

"I think you have that covered," Solan mumbled.

Xena looked as if she were about to break into a smile, but instead she said, "I thought you should both know that the time has come and you two will have front row seats to the end of the gods. By the end of this week, we'll be on Mount Olympus."


	20. Chapter 20

Ares was in the Halls of War and was looking over the weapons he had there carefully. He was deciding on a weapon to use in the upcoming battle. There was a wide variety of spears. It was the favorite and primary weapon of most Greek armies, but he didn't favor them himself.

At last, he decided on a Kopis. The thick, curved sword was messier than a regular sword and was generally wielded like an axe, but it was a dangerous weapon. It struck fear into its victims more so than a regular sword because of the gruesomeness of it.

"Are you just admiring the weapons or do have a particular use in mind for them?" Zeus asked.

"What can I say? I have an impressive collection," he said in a smug tone of voice without turning around.

"You don't fool me for a minute. You never have. You and Xena are up to something. She wouldn't be camping so close to Mount Olympus if you weren't."

"Xena," he said. "She's something, isn't she?"

"Why aren't you done with that woman yet? There are plenty of fresh, young things with the sort of aggressiveness you like. Why not have the joy of starting over conquering with one of them? Why do you insist on staying with that murdering harlot?"

Rage filled his chest. "I suppose I should be like you and lay with whatever pretty mortal catches my fancy that week? Forget it. Xena has something no other mortal woman has. I have to wonder though why you're so eager for me to get Xena out of the picture. Could it be because you know she spells your doom? I know it's not out of fatherly concern."

"An eternity is a long time to be with only woman," Zeus continued as if he hadn't heard Ares. "I should know."

Ares had always been close to his mother. She knew what hatred was because of Zeus' infidelity. He had never quite clicked with his father. It's not that his father seemed to share any particular affinity for any of his children, but it didn't mean he couldn't hate Zeus for not being the father or husband to his mother that he should have been. "Well, sorry to disappoint, but I'm staying with Xena."

"You've always been a disappointment to me," he said angrily. "You're so hotheaded and stubborn. Well, your time with Xena is going to be shorter than you think."

Ares was done taking this crap and there was no way he was going to let his father make threats against Xena. He poured a small amount of the hind's blood onto the sword. He whipped around and brought the sword crashing down onto Zeus. Zeus stood there unmoving with a small smile at Ares' show of anger as if he hadn't expected anything less of his hotheaded son. His look changed into one of pain and surprise as the sword hacked into him. Zeus fell onto his back in a crumpled heap.

Ares stared down at his bludgeoned father in shock. Zeus was still alive but just barely and blood was pooling around him fast. He looked up at his son for just a moment. He didn't say a word, but there was an expression of acceptance at his fate and almost a hint of fatherly regret before his face became expressionless. He had killed his father. Ares couldn't really process it, but he knew he had to act fast. He picked up the lifeless body and disappeared with it.

After he had thrown the body down a bottomless pit, he turned to the only person he knew he could turn to. She was lying in bed in her tent, but she sat up as soon as he arrived. "What's wrong?"

"I killed my father," he told her as if he still didn't quite believe it himself.

She motioned for him to sit and he laid his head in her lap. "It had to happen," Xena soothed as she ran her fingers through his hair. She smiled secretly to herself. She couldn't have planned it better herself. He was obviously feeling overwhelmed at the loss of a parent, especially one that he had expected would live forever. "Zeus had to kill his father when he took power. It's an unavoidable and necessary action and he got exactly what he deserved."

"You're right. I didn't have a choice," he said, feeling a trace of his old confidence. He knew she was the one to go to.

"You had better give me the pendant for safe-keeping. The other gods are going to realize he's missing and they're going to get suspicious if you have the hind's blood."

"You don't think they won't look to you too? That's what my father came to see me about. He knew we were up to something."

"I've already though of that. They wouldn't think to check Solan. Why would I put such a valuable on a prisoner and enemy? He'll carry the pendant and because he's coming with us, it'll be right within our reach."

He pulled it off his neck and placed it in her hand. "It might be better if I were with you tonight instead of returning to Olympus."

"Of course," she said in honey tones. She brought his hand to her lips. "I wouldn't want you anywhere else than by my side right now."


	21. Chapter 21

Xena had shared some of the blood with a few of her best soldiers and Ares had been able to tell the soldiers precisely the paths to take to successfully climb up Mount Olympus.

While the soldiers started their ascent, Ares brought Xena, Cyrene, and Solan into the throne room. Cyrene and Solan were placed behind the throne. They were gagged and their hands and feet were bound. All they were able to do was watch the scene unfold from a relatively safe position.

The queen of the gods was the only one that was there at the moment.

"What's this?" Hera asked coolly as she rose from the throne.

"We just came for a little visit," Xena said. "Your grandchild will be born any day now. You wouldn't want to miss that."

She looked at Xena in disgust. "I don't consider children born of dalliances with mortals to be of any relation to me." She looked over at Ares. "Have you seen your father?"

"I don't think you'll be seeing him anytime soon, at least not in this world," Xena said, answering for him.

"I don't know how, but you killed my husband," Hera gasped accusingly at Xena.

"No, that honor belongs to your son," she said as she sliced through an unsuspecting Hera. Hera screamed in rage and pain before the life passed from her.

The scream would alert the other gods. Ares suddenly felt a wave of cold panic sweep over him. This wasn't playing out quite like he had imagined. He hadn't been thrilled with killing his father but if he hadn't, something could have happened to Xena and their child. This murder was simply cold-blooded and more bodies were about to litter the floor.

"Let's retreat," he said. "We'll think of another way to gain control of Mount Olympus. We're bound to throw things off balance if we start killing off all the gods."

He was standing so close to her and still staring at his dead mother that he didn't see Xena's next move. She cut him across the ribs with her sword. He fell to the floor, feeling pain for the first time in his life. It was agonizing. He didn't know how mortals lived with it. A veteran soldier may have been able to get up and keep fighting despite the bleeding wound, but he was no veteran with pain. He looked at his own hand that had been pressed against the cut, not quite believing that the familiar red substance known as blood came from his own body. She hadn't meant to kill him. If she had, she would have struck in a more vital place or finished him off while he was down, but she had meant to incapacitate him during the battle and she had succeeded. A group of gods entered the throne room.

He watched helplessly as she sliced through Strife and killed him. She was taking care of the easy ones first, the ones who hadn't had much battle experience. The boy was a halfwit, but he had always tried. He had a fondness for his nephew. He had a fondness for Aphrodite. He was glad that she was nowhere to be seen. Forget fondness. He felt love for them. Once he had come to the realization that he loved Xena, it was like something in him was starting to break and his love could be extended to the family that loved him like a spreading disease. He wished that he had come to this realization before the battle had started. He could have stopped her. He was as much at fault as Xena for all the deaths that were about to take place if not more so.

She was gloriously beautiful. He couldn't deny that. Her dark hair was flying, there was a look of fury on her face, and her sword movements were swift and graceful even though she was heavy with child. It was taking her longer now, but still the gods were falling: Hades, Hephaestus, Discord, Deimos.

Artemis had been in the corner shooting arrows all this time and Xena had caught them all, although a couple of them had been a close call. Artemis had talent with a bow and arrow, but she was no match for Xena and her sword. Xena advanced and Artemis didn't last very long.

For the first time in his existence, the sight of war was making him nauseous. War had always been about faceless mortals fighting each other to advance a cause and the cause didn't matter to him as long as there were people fighting. He didn't care if innocent people were slaughtered on the way. Now he saw the faces of the people who were being slaughtered, family members, and he didn't enjoy it the way he usually did.

He would always be the god of war. That much he knew, but he would never again take it lightly or think of it only as a game. War was real, war was horrific, and war should be fought for a better reason than he and Xena wanting to rule the world. He was wrong. Their attitudes had been wrong and that alone was a new concept to him. He couldn't ever remember admitting that he was wrong about anything.

Athena was the last of the godly opponents in the throne room and the last to arrive, but he had a feeling that Xena didn't have her army anymore, not that she would care. The other gods lay dead on the floor or had long ago left Olympus to hide.

"I see you have hind's blood like some of your soldiers did, how clever, and even cleverer to provide that distraction with your army. That way you wouldn't have to battle all the gods at once. I let them climb up most of the way. Then they were too exhausted to be of any use with their deadly weapons, but you didn't mean for them to kill I suppose. I'm afraid your luck has run out though."

"And I'm afraid there's no such thing as luck anymore," Xena taunted back. "The god of luck is dead."

"That's too bad because you'll need it," she said, bringing her sword crashing into Xena's.

This fight went longer than the others. Xena had met her match in Athena. Athena managed to cut Xena's arm, a rare occasion for Xena these days. The cut only seemed to fuel Xena's passion and she fought even harder. Athena didn't have a chance. At last, Xena stabbed her through her abdomen.

"You could have killed her from where you are with a simple blast. You had plenty of opportunities," Athena said to Ares viciously as blood trickled down the corner of her mouth.

"I'm sorry, but I have a thing for her and she's carrying my child," he answered and he really was sorry.

He watched as his sister crawled slowly across the floor leaving a trail of blood as if she was desperately trying to get somewhere. Xena could have put Athena out of her misery instead of watching the struggle, but she seemed to be enjoying the display. Athena barely made it into the other room, only her feet were still showing, and then her feet turned over, signaling her death.

They had won Mount Olympus and Ares knew what the term hollow victory meant.


	22. Chapter 22

Xena lounged sideways across the throne and sighed. She had felt only momentary satisfaction and then the emptiness was on her again. There were other gods to kill of course, but the fun would stop eventually and she would be back to square one. The baby would be coming soon, but it would be a while before she was ready to start training for her path as future Empress. "Olympus is ours. Now what, Ares?"

"I'd say the first thing you could do, my queen," he said, using a heavy dose of sarcasm with queen, "is come take care of my wound."

She tore some of the material off from Hera's skirt. She came over and removed his vest and dressed the wound. "You are so infantile. I didn't see you come running every time I got a scratch. I can't count how many times I've taken out arrows that were lodged in me all by my lonesome."

"I wasn't the one who put the arrows through you, now was I?" he asked angrily and pointedly.

All during the battle, Solan had been working on freeing himself and now he was untying Cyrene. Solan threw the pendant from around his neck and stomped on it.

Xena turned around at the sound and laughed when she saw, "Did you think I actually put the hind's blood around your neck?"

"I thought you did," Ares growled.

"It's in a safe place until I have need of it again. You just destroyed a pendant filled with rabbit's blood."

Both Solan and Ares looked angry. Ares was about to say something to her when Xena bit the bottom of her lip hard, drawing blood.

Cyrene immediately recognized the problem. Her stoic daughter had always tried to cover up pain. She had practically had to tie her down when she was sick as a child. "You're in labor."

"It would seem so," Xena said in pained tones.

Ares was instantly the attentive father, forgetting his former anger. He scooped her up in his arms, no easy task as his wound was still giving him pain. He led them all to his bedroom and he laid her on the bed.

"What do I do?" he asked to nobody in particular. "Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth and midwifery, usually handled the births on Mount Olympus. I don't imagine she will be too eager to help if I could even get her to come out of hiding."

"We don't need a goddess to deliver the child. Mortals have been doing it on their own for many years now," Cyrene said, rolling up her sleeves. "And it may be too late for that anyway. Her pains don't seem to be very far apart."

"Maybe I could still find a mortal midwife," Ares said and he started to move from the bedside.

Xena gripped his wrist hard, "Forget it. I would worry the midwife might try to do something to the baby or me in such a vulnerable state anyway. Mother knows what she's doing. She's had 3 of her own after all."

There was no chatter during the delivery after that.

"Okay, dear," Cyrene said, breaking the silence. "It's time to push."

The baby's cries soon filled the air. They were all secretly relieved to hear it. It was a pleasant sound after the quiet that had descended when Olympus became a makeshift tomb.

"It's a girl," Cyrene said with a wide, happy smile. She cleaned her off and untied her own shawl to wrap the baby up. She started to hand her to Xena.

Xena shook her head. She didn't want to hold the baby. Cyrene frowned, "What's the matter are you afraid you might actually develop some tender feelings?" She looked at Ares. "Would you like to hold your daughter?"

"As a matter of fact, I would," Ares said, taking her. Adoration shown on his face. "She looks a lot like you, Xena."

"Wonderful," Xena said as if he didn't care a bit, but they all noticed that she stole a peek anyway.

"She was born on the eve of a new era," Solan commented, "one without gods."

"I hadn't thought of it that way, but you're right," Xena said. "I suppose it's only fitting that her name be Eve."

"It suits me," Ares said dismissively. He passed the baby back to Cyrene.

"There's nothing quite like bringing a new life into the world," Cyrene said. "Watching your baby's first smile and knowing it's meant for you. It's almost as nice as when you hear your child say I love you for the first time."

"I know you, Mother," Xena said. "Your little speech isn't going to make me feel all motherly. I was never one much for dolls or babies and nothing is going to change that."

Cyrene shrugged and smiled to herself as if she didn't care one way or the other, but Xena knew that she did. There was always more going on under the surface with her mother than what she let on. She supposed they were alike in that way.

Xena rolled her eyes. "I'll tell you what. I was going to get someone to look after it anyway. Why don't you take care of her until she can talk, but then she becomes mine again to train unless Daddy here would like to take care of her?"

He held up his hands, "No, no. I don't do babies either."

"Thank you, Xena," said Cyrene, her eyes shining.

"Don't get sentimental on me or I may change my mind," Xena said.

Solan reached over and gave a finger for his baby sister to grasp. It was hard to believe that this innocent babe had been born from such people, but one thing was for sure she wouldn't stay innocent with Xena and Ares for parents. He would have prayed to the gods to deliver Eve from them if there had been any Greek gods left to hear.


	23. Chapter 23

Ares had made a cradle for Eve. Solan was rocking it for her. An exhausted Xena was half asleep and Ares was about to fall asleep next to her. Cyrene was the only one that saw a whole Athena standing in the doorway with an arrow about to be fired and before she could raise a cry of alarm, the arrow had been released. Cyrene dived on the bed to block the arrow and the arrow lodged in her instead. It went right through her shoulder.

"You foolish mortal! That was meant for Xena, not you!" an angry Athena cried.

Everyone was instantly alert. Ares captured Athena before she could fire another arrow.

Xena broke the tip of the arrow and smelled the poison. There was nothing she could do. She made Cyrene as comfortable as she could and then she looked at Athena, "I thought I had killed you. It looks like I'll have the pleasure of doing it again."

"Did you think you could be rid of me so easily?" Athena taunted. "I'm the goddess of wisdom, not impulsiveness. I hid some ambrosia outside the room before I came in. I was hoping I wouldn't need it, but I was prepared. I ate it just in time. I just made it look like I collapsed in the other room, so no one would follow me."

"You shouldn't have done it," Ares said, "but we may decide to spare you if you heal her."

"I wouldn't heal Xena's mother if she were the last mortal on earth after what Xena did to our mother and what's the big deal anyway? She's just a mortal. She would have died eventually anyway. What happened here today was an assault against nature."

Solan picked up Xena's sword and ran it through Athena in his rage at her uncaring attitude. "The big deal is that she's my grandmother and I love her." Ares had made no move to stop him and he let his dead sister fall in a crumpled heap. He and Solan went back over to the bedside.

"Why did you do it, Mother? I wouldn't have done it for you," Xena asked her with a voice that was a mixture of anger and sorrow.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Solan and I have both seen some moments lately that have convinced us your heart's not complete made of stone yet and anyway you're my daughter," she said as if that last part answered everything.

"That's not good enough. It was stupid. You should have let it hit me," she said.

"I could give up my godhood in exchange for your life, Cyrene," Ares said.

"No," Cyrene said without hesitation. "Xena is going to need your protection. The other gods aren't likely to let this go unpunished. If they unite with gods from other lands, it could mean trouble for her and my grandchildren. Keep your immortality."

"Don't listen to her. She doesn't know what she's talking about; she's delirious. Fix her," Xena demanded.

"You should respect your mother's last wishes," Ares said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "She wants to protect you. Let her."

Tears ran down Xena's cheeks. It was almost a foreign sensation. Xena couldn't remember the last time she had cried. "You do know I didn't want anything to happen to Lyceus."

"I know."

"And it was reflexive with Toris. If I had known it was him, I wouldn't have killed him. I took no pleasure in it."

"I've forgiven you for any part you had to play in their deaths," she said, reaching up to stroke Xena's cheek.

"I love you, Mother," she said.

Cyrene smiled joyfully at the words she hadn't heard in such a long time and then she was gone.

Xena screamed and suddenly an overwhelming flood of grief and love at the loss of her mother poured across her inner being and she felt something besides the numbness.


	24. Chapter 24

It had been a long process to turn the power over to the various territories and nations and to convince the gods that were left that they were done with the destruction, but it had been done. Xena had exchanged her empress robes for the simple warrior clothes that she had worn before she became an empress. She wanted to go on the road. Ares and Eve were going with her. They were standing in front of the palace talking to Solan.

"I guess this is goodbye," Xena said to Solan.

"For now," Solan said.

"You could come with us you know," Xena said.

"I don't think so. I know justice was done when I killed Athena, but I didn't enjoy taking a life. I don't think I'm cut out to be a warrior after all, but I am still interested in seeing justice done. I want to go into law and make some reforms to the way our society works."

"I'm glad. I never thought you were the warrior type. You're too compassionate."

"I will miss you."

"I'll miss you too. I wish you'd known the love of your parents growing up. Your father would have been a good father to you and I don't know if you'll believe this, but I think I would have made a good mother. If I had kept you, I know I would have found my way to the right path sooner."

"I know you would have too. You've been a great mother to both Eve and me this past year."

"I had a great role model in my mother. I have a lot more to make up for though. The former empress and the god of war traveling throughout the known world doing good deeds and righting wrongs, I don't know if people are going to believe it, but I have a feeling it's going to be more satisfying and interesting than being empress."

"I'm not sure about the good deeds part," Ares said. "Is it really necessary to become heroes?" He spit out the word heroes as if it were a vile word.

She jabbed him in the ribs in reply.

"I'm just saying isn't there something else we can call it besides good deeds?" Ares argued. "It sounds so namby-pamby."

Solan smiled. They weren't like the average couple, but it was obvious they were both in love with each other and had grown closer over the past year. He was happy for them. He had had his doubts about how two people with such dark pasts could support each other in their new directions, but somehow it worked for them.

"Sometimes it's like for the past 20 or so years, I was somebody else altogether," Xena tried to explain to Solan. "I didn't feel real. I just did horrendous things in an effort to compensate for my emptiness. It's different now. Now that I let myself feel one emotion, I feel a whole host of them like the guilt of my past actions. I don't think I can ever atone for them, but I'm going to try."

"So are you headed anywhere in particular?" Solan asked.

"I was thinking of going to Israel. It's one territory I didn't conquer. I met a group of them a long time ago when I was wounded and they took care of me. It has always puzzled me how a person could love an enemy or even a stranger. They had no reason in the world to help me, but they did. They must know something important and I hear the king there is giving a boy and his followers some trouble. It might be a good place to start helping people myself."

"Sounds promising. Let me know how it goes."

"I'm against it," Ares said. "I hear the gods of other lands don't always fare too well in Israel and there's something different about their god. He's not like other gods. He makes the hairs on my neck stand on end and my hairs never stand on end."

"All the more reason to go," Xena said, looking at him with a glimmer of amusement in her eyes.

"You're very amusing, my dear," he told her with a frown.

"I don't think it's going to be some sort of miracle cure," she said, turning her attention back to Solan. "There's always going to be a darkness in me that I can never expunge."

"There's a darkness in everybody," Solan said. "Anyone who says differently is lying, but everyone has to choose which side they're going to serve, the dark or the light."

She smiled at him with motherly pride. "You have to be the wisest young man I have ever known in my life. You're to make a great statesman."

Solan exchanged hugs and words of affection with his mother and sister. Then he watched as the three of them disappeared over the horizon. The empress' heart had been in a prison and now it was free, free to love and free to embrace goodness. He knew that Cyrene would be proud of her. He knew he was.

The End


End file.
